Simple pleasures are the best ones

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When you’re old(er), you’re constantly reminded that the simple things in life are the things that matter the most. The little things are the big things. Each day is a gift, and we need to see/look for/find things to make us happy every day.

Watching grape tomatoes, the first ones in the garden to ripen, is a wonderful summer pleasure. I stood there and ate the first red one, and did actually wipe it off a little first. 🙂 Oh a little garden dirt never hurt anybody.

I have another example of summer simple pleasures that wouldn’t matter a hoot to some people, but some yellow birds in my yard make me happy. I live in a small town, but even in this less populated area, we don’t see many American goldfinches; maybe one each summer. For all the 40+ years I’ve lived here, even with a small woods behind me for cover for them, no routine sightings of goldfinches.

Until last summer. I had a lot of chicory planted then, in a raised bed; a lot in one place. My lizards love the blue flowers and the leaves are a good staple for them. But who knew that goldfinches love the seeds! So last summer there were 2 males and 2 females in my yard a lot.

This year there have been 4 pairs around the chicory a lot, and it’s a wonderful treat to sit on the porch and watch them collecting the seeds from the chicory.

Most likely they were around here in town all along in the summers and there was nothing in my yard to attract them. Chicory will always grow here, and I hope that means they’ll come back to collect seeds every summer.

What beautiful splashes of yellow color!

I’d discuss the irony of this being our July 4th holiday, the day we celebrate our independence from the king, but given our current circumstances, I’ll just wish people here a happy holiday. Everybody else have good luck with gardens and a pleasant summer.

37 responses to “Simple pleasures are the best ones”

  1. You are so right, my dear friend. We have to feel happy and enjoy all the little things around us. Having a piece of chocolate, an espresso, sitting outside in the sun, seeing your vegetables grow in the garden. We’re living in such bad and uncertain times so please enjoy all those beautiful moments in life.

    • Yellow birds, red tomatoes, red and black lizards, good cats, resting in your chair in your garden at the end of a nice day. You understand those pleasures, and yes then there’s chocolate. 🙂 I hope you continue to enjoy the good things every day too. Uncertainty everywhere, but the little pleasures are the best.

  2. I just got my first yellow mini tomatoes yesterday. I ate mine later along with my one regular tomato harvest. I’ve only got bell peppers and tomatoes this year.

    I haven’t seen gold finches since I was a child on the farm. I’ll try growing some chicory next year to see what happens.

    • I hope you keep getting peppers and tomatoes. Check google to see if there are goldfinches there, and if there are, I bet chicory will bring them to your yard.

  3. The only sunflowers that I ever cut and brought in were very popular with the finches. I grew the sunflowers on the driveway, but took several from the lower inner side where neighbors would not notice them missing. I put them into a big vase in the middle of the table in the dining room. I thought that they looked so good, and that I got away with something sneaky. Then, I went to work. I came home at the end of the day, and when I walked in, I got the sense that I walked in on something that I should not have walked in on. It was quiet. I looked from left to right, until I saw into the dining room, where a huge herd of finches was staring back at me. They had obviously frozen when I walked in, because a few feathers were falling lightly from above. The carcasses and frass of the sunflowers, deprived of their centers, were strewn over the table, next to the spilled vase. Finch poop was everywhere, including where the water had spilled. There was a moment of absolute silence as they started at me and I stared at them, then, suddenly, they all flew out the window at the same time!

      • That part was sort of cute. I was furious about the mess they made with my otherwise exemplary sunflowers, but it was just too funny to be angry for long.

      • You get some unusual things going on with wildlife: birds in the shower, bamboo growing thru things, finches surprised at their sunflower feast.

      • Yes, but the bamboo was at Brent’s house. Wildlife enjoys every home that I ever lived in. I am very fortunate that, except for the squirrel that kept showing up for breakfast at my home in town, rodents have not yet been a problem. Ducks and turkeys would be more welcome if they just went directly to the oven.

      • I have always lived within chaparral or coastal climates, where insects are not so bothersome, and mosquitoes, although bothersome everywhere, do not like me or Rhody. Without many mosquitoes, not many bats come in.

      • Bats sort of bother me when they come in. They do it only very rarely, and I have not seen one in years, but they are like silent flying mice in the dark. They fly in circles after I put out the light, and it is . . . creepy. Then, if I turn on something that makes the wrong sort of noise, such as a microwave oven, they spaz and crash.

      • Funny?! It is sort of creepy. When I was working for a so-called ‘landscape company’ many years ago, and needed to be presentable, I shaved daily. I got one of those odd electric shavers because it was easier. I have no idea how it worked, but it did. I used a mirror on the wall outside of the cabin. While shaving, a bat occasionally splatted on the wall of the cabin. It happened often enough that I sort of wondered if it had something to do with what I was doing out there. Finally, I watched a bat as I turned on the shaver, and the bat spazzed. I did not use the device after that.

      • It was at dusk, as bats come out for the evening. They typically glide and flit about, almost like swallows, but while swallows are already in their nests. When the spaz, it is more like a convulsion or seizure than typical more deliberate flitting. They seem to lose control, and sometimes crash or fall to the ground if close enough to the device.

  4. I should plant chicory. I’m so glad you shared this. Seeing flashes of yellow is a rarity around here as well, and Murph can eat it. He is picky, so we shall see.

    • I got the seeds from Amazon, just called bluest blue chicory. It’s a perennial, cut the stems off after they frost and it starts big hard new stems up from the ground next year. My guys will eat the leaves but it’s not their first choice. But the flowers, they both go nuts for them. And it’s good to add some to their salads, cos it’s a good staple. And maybe you will attract gold finches!

  5. I took a screenshot of your comment so I can quickly find it when I place my next order, I will find them & add them to my list of future puchases. I’ll title a list “garden” for ease. There are other things I found some time ago to put in there as well, even though we get most things from Breck’s. I found out the species of tree I grew up climbing. It was cut down. It was a Golden Rain Tree & Amazon has them. We do not need another tree in this yard, but I’d love to have one.
    Thank you for the tip and info. Since I cared for my dad before his passing, we’ve not used our garden. It’s flourishing, but with nothing intentional. I want to till it & get back to it come the spring. Hoping chicory likes a spring planting. It will be healthy for everybody.

    • Yes, having forgotten where you live, plant your chicory seeds in the spring, after all danger of frost. They won’t get real big the first year, but space them apart maybe 1′, because the next year they’ll be big and beautiful. Good for lizards, greens and flowers, and the flowers are excellent for pollinators, and maybe you’ll attract some gold finches. Mine are now comfortable to come closer to the house to get in the birdbath.

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